|
|
ANTARCTICA TRAVEL: Research your vacation travel plans with us!
Facts About Antarctica
The icy continent around the South Pole is called Antarctica. This region, at the bottom of the world, is larger in area than the United States and
Mexico combined. It is a cold and forbidding land that has no permanent human population and is almost devoid of animal or plant life. However, the
oceans adjoining Antarctica teem with life.
Almost no one goes to Antarctica except scientists and some adventurous tourists. The continent has natural resources that someday may be used, but
the harsh environment of the continent makes them difficult to exploit. Nations interested in Antarctica have signed a treaty that reserves the region
for science and other peaceful purposes.
An ice sheet covers nearly all of Antarctica. At its thickest point the ice sheet is 15,670 feet (4,776 meters) deep almost 3 miles (5 kilometers).
It averages 7,000 to 8,000 feet (2,100 to 2,400 meters) thick, making Antarctica the continent with the highest mean elevation. This ice sheet contains
90 percent of the world's ice and 70 percent of the world's fresh water. The Antarctic ice was formed from the snows of millions of years that fell
on the land, layer on layer. The weight of new snow squeezes the old snow underneath until it turns to a substance called firn, then ice. As the ice
piles up, it moves toward the coast like batter spreading on a pan. The moving ice forms into glaciers, rivers of ice that flow into the sea. Pieces
of the floating glaciers break off from time to time, a process called calving.
Places to go in Antarctica:
- The Lemaire Channel : The Lemaire Channel is a spectacular sight with enormous sheer cliffs falling straight into the sea. It's a narrow
channel flanked by the Antarctic Peninsula on one side and Booth Island on the other.
- The Dry Valleys : They are unusual in as much as no rain has fallen there for at least two million years. They have no ice or snow either
because the air is too dry for any to exist.
- Paradise Harbor: Paradise Harbor, on the Antarctic Peninsula, is one of Antarctica's most visited areas and 'zodiac cruising'
among the icebergs that calve off the glacier at the harbour's head has become very popular.
|